James Clark (Kentucky)

James Clark (16 January 1779-27 August 1839) was a member of the US House of Representatives (DR-KY 1) from 4 March 1813 to 8 April 1816 (succeeding Anthony New and preceding Thomas Fletcher) and from KY-3 from 1 August 1825 to 3 March 1831 (succeeding Henry Clay and preceding Chilton Allan), as well as Governor of Kentucky from 30 August 1836 to 27 August 1839 (succeeding James Turner Morehead and preceding Charles A. Wickliffe).

Biography
James Clark was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1779, the brother of Christopher H. Clark, and the family moved to Clark County, Kentucky in 1794. Clark became a lawyer in Winchester, Kentucky in 1797, and he served in the State House from 1807 to 1808, on the Kentucky Court of Appeals from 1810 to 1812, in the US House of Representatives from 1813 to 1816 and from 1825 to 1831, on the Clark and Bourbon Counties Circuit Court from 1817 to 1822, and as Governor from 1836 to 1839. Clark helped to organize the Whig Party in Kentucky, although he sought to restrict the publication and spread of abolitionist propaganda in the state. He died in 1839.